TY - JOUR
T1 - How Assumptions and Preferences Can Affect Patient Care
T2 - An Introduction to Implicit Bias for First-Year Medical Students
AU - Gonzalez, Cristina M.
AU - Nava, Stephanie
AU - List, Julie
AU - Liguori, Alyssa
AU - Marantz, Paul R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Gonzalez et al.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Introduction: Instruction in implicit bias is becoming prevalent across the spectrum of medical training. Little education exists for preclinical students, and guidance for faculty to facilitate such education is minimal. To address these gaps, we designed and delivered a single session for incoming first-year medical students and developed a facilitator training program. Methods: One faculty member delivered a 1-hour, multimedia, interactive lecture to all first-year medical students. Students subsequently met in small groups with trained facilitators. Activities included reflection, guided debriefing, and strategy identification to become aware of when they might be making an assumption causing them to jump to a conclusion about someone. The program evaluation consisted of aggregated student strategies and facilitator feedback during postsession debriefs, both analyzed through thematic analysis. Results: We delivered instruction to 1,098 students. Student strategies resulted in three themes: (1) humility, (2) reflection, and (3) partnering. The postsession debriefs uncovered opportunities to enhance the session. Lessons learned included presenting material to an entire class at once, allowing students to engage in dynamic discussion in the small groups, eliminating anonymous polling in the small groups, and highlighting management of implicit bias as essential to professional development. Discussion: Our instructional design enabled first-year medical students to identify at least one strategy to use when implicit biases are activated. The large-group session was deliverable by one faculty member, and volunteers successfully facilitated small-group sessions after only one training session, making this model a feasible innovation to reach an entire medical school class at the same time.
AB - Introduction: Instruction in implicit bias is becoming prevalent across the spectrum of medical training. Little education exists for preclinical students, and guidance for faculty to facilitate such education is minimal. To address these gaps, we designed and delivered a single session for incoming first-year medical students and developed a facilitator training program. Methods: One faculty member delivered a 1-hour, multimedia, interactive lecture to all first-year medical students. Students subsequently met in small groups with trained facilitators. Activities included reflection, guided debriefing, and strategy identification to become aware of when they might be making an assumption causing them to jump to a conclusion about someone. The program evaluation consisted of aggregated student strategies and facilitator feedback during postsession debriefs, both analyzed through thematic analysis. Results: We delivered instruction to 1,098 students. Student strategies resulted in three themes: (1) humility, (2) reflection, and (3) partnering. The postsession debriefs uncovered opportunities to enhance the session. Lessons learned included presenting material to an entire class at once, allowing students to engage in dynamic discussion in the small groups, eliminating anonymous polling in the small groups, and highlighting management of implicit bias as essential to professional development. Discussion: Our instructional design enabled first-year medical students to identify at least one strategy to use when implicit biases are activated. The large-group session was deliverable by one faculty member, and volunteers successfully facilitated small-group sessions after only one training session, making this model a feasible innovation to reach an entire medical school class at the same time.
KW - Diversity and Inclusion
KW - Faculty Development
KW - Health Care Disparities
KW - Health Equity
KW - Implicit Bias
KW - Unconscious Bias
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111746625&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111746625&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11162
DO - 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11162
M3 - Article
C2 - 34263027
AN - SCOPUS:85111746625
SN - 2374-8265
VL - 17
SP - 11162
JO - MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources
JF - MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources
ER -